


The Life They Escaped

by BunnyMask



Series: Mystic Haven: The Magic Tower [13]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Child Neglect, Gen, Mentioned Aqua (Kingdom Hearts), Mentioned Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Mentioned Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts), Mentioned Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Mentioned Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Minor Naminé & Xion, Namine is a witch, Naminé is seven, Roxas is a manticore, in the present anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:54:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28756221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunnyMask/pseuds/BunnyMask
Summary: A couple of years ago, in a castle on a mountain, a young witch stays in her room. Her room is the only world she knows, her roommate is her only comfort, and then there's Diz...
Relationships: Naminé & Roxas (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Mystic Haven: The Magic Tower [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1522583
Comments: 7
Kudos: 14





	The Life They Escaped

It was cold on the library floor. 

The floor was smooth but bumpy. It was made of lots of different rocks. She tried to count them but always lost count after 100. She let her face rest against the rocks. Her cheeks were hot, so the coolness was nice against her skin. Her body had overheated again. 

Master Aqua had told her the overheating would stop when Naminé learned how to properly control magic. She took too much in and didn't put enough back out. Naminé was trying to learn, but this still happened often. Maybe she was broken forever. Maybe she'd never be a proper witch.

Roxas sat by her. 

He'd had to learn to control himself too. He'd made more progress in a few months than she had in almost two years. Even then he wasn't sitting close enough to touch her. They were allowed to play together now, but he was still careful with her--- too careful. It was like she was made of glass and he was a hammer. Maybe it was just habit now. Maybe it would never be the same as back then.

Back at the castle, a very cold, very close place, Roxas was one of her few comforts. He was a roommate of sorts--- if a cage counted as a room. Naminé's room wasn't a cage--- not literally--- but Roxas's was--- if a cage was considered a room.

DiZ had brought Roxas in one day. Naminé was so young back then--- too young to remember, but she did remember. She remembered everything, except for where she came from. 

When DiZ had brought Roxas in he was so small. He was in his complete manticore form. Naminé didn't know what he was. DiZ put him in a cage at the opposite end of the room.

At the time, Naminé was too small to make the journey across the room. So for a long time, she watched the cage. Several times a day DiZ would enter to check on the two. He fed them, did several check-ups, then wrote on his notepad. This continued for an eternity.

When they were old enough to understand him, but not quite old enough to respond to him, he told them Naminé was a rare kind of witch. Her white hair meant she could see into and affect people's minds and hearts. He also told them Roxas was rare because he was a manticore. A manticore, he said, was one of the deadliest creatures alive, powerful enough to kill a dragon. He told them there was no safe place outside of the castle. They of course believed him. After all, he was the only person who knew what existed outside that room.

"What's outside?" Roxas asked one day as DiZ checked on them.

"Nothing," DiZ allowed Roxas to leave his cage. "Except terrible people."

Naminé was in her bed. She rarely wasn't. She was sick often--- lots of fevers--- and her body was frail. Roxas climbed into her bed and sat next to her.

"Naminé," DiZ looked at her, "What symbol did I show Roxas today?"

Naminé put a hand on Roxas and focused. Her body burned like fire coursed through her veins, but she found the answer.

"Three hearts."

"Correct." DiZ wrote something down. He departed shortly after.

Naminé laid down. Her head was pulsing. Roxas nuzzled up to her.

"Na-ne?"

"Yes, Roxas?"

"Going outside. Wanna come?"

Naminé stared at him. "Outside?"

Roxas nodded.

"But DiZ says it's dangerous."

"I'm dangerous."

Naminé stayed quiet for a while. "I'm going to stay here."

"Okay!" Roxas climbed out of the bed. He walked to the door. He opened the door. He went outside! The door shut behind him.

_ Footsteps moved towards the library.  _ Ven came in, carrying a bunch of books. Sora was trailing behind him.

"Ah!" Ven dropped the stack of books and ran over to her and Roxas. He crouched down in front of her. "Are you okay, Naminé?"

"She's overheating again," Roxas frowned. "Vanitas and Xion went to get Master Aqua."

"That's good," Ven brushed her hair with his fingers, "I'll get you something cold, okay?"

"Yea."

Ven stood up. Sora got down on the floor. 

He pressed his forehead to hers, "It's going to be okay." He jumped up and followed Ven out.

_ " _ Naminé! _ "  _ Xion ran into the library.

Vanitas trailed behind her, "Aqua's coming as soon as she's done in town. You're stuck with us until then."

"Okay."

Xion took Naminé's face in her hands. "You're burning up!"

She looked so worried… it was kind of nice. It made her feel a little better. Xion had always made her feel a little better.

_ "Na-ne!"  _ Roxas ran in as he often did when he was done with his daily exploring. "I got you a present."

"A present?"

Roxas shoved a doll into her lap as he climbed into bed. "I found her behind some boxes!"

Naminé examined her. She was made of wood. Her face and hair were painted on in black. She was wearing a small black dress. Naminé fell in love.

She didn't want DiZ to take her away or find out Roxas was consistently leaving the room so she hid her under her pillow when DiZ was around.

At night time when she felt alone, she held her to her heart. She did the same whenever she started to get too hot. It always helped her relax. Sometimes it seemed the doll was trying to make her feel better too. She chalked it up to imagination and loneliness.

"Nami," Roxas was sitting on the edge of the bed. His tail was swishing behind him. "Why is your hair white?"

"DiZ says my hair turns white in the winter."

"Oh." Roxas looked up at the ceiling, "is that supposed to happen?"

"It always has," Naminé touched her hair. It changed with the seasons, but usually just different shades of yellow. Winter was the only time it was different.

"I wonder why the other girl's hair wasn't white."

"Other girl?"

"It was brown."

"What other girl?"

"She lives downstairs, I think."

"Roxas," Naminé wasn't sure what to make of this, "We're the only ones who live here."

"But downstairs smells like a lot of people."

Naminé frowned. Before she could press further DiZ walked in.

DiZ's visits were more frequent these days. He would hand Naminé a random object and ask her about its history. She never got much further back than DiZ picking it up from somewhere. He took notes then he would leave.

That day was different.

He told her to look into Roxas's memories for today's symbol. She did. Then he told her to change the symbol.

"Change it?"

"Yes."

Naminé did as she was told.

"Roxas, what symbol did I show you this morning?"

Roxas hesitated for a moment. "Yellow circle?"

Naminé gasped. It was the blue square before! She really had changed it!

DiZ took notes and then left.

"Are you okay?" Naminé patted Roxas.

Roxas nodded. "I'm hungry. I'm going to find food."

"Oh okay."

Roxas climbed out of bed and left. Naminé layed down and held her doll to her chest. Was he really okay? Was it really okay to change his memories?

That wasn't the last time she had to change his memories. It was Diz's new test. She had to change a symbol every single day.

"Nami!" Roxas jumped onto the bed, waking her up.

"Yes?" She sat up.

"I saw her again!"

"Who?"

"The brown-haired girl who smells really good!" Roxas reached in his pocket and pulled out an orange napkin, "She gave me these!"

Roxas untied the napkin revealing something that kind of looked like crackers, but thicker and softer. They were all kinds of shapes.

"She called them 'cookies'! She said her Momma made them. What's a 'Momma', Nami?"

"I don't know."

"Here," Roxas offered her one. She bit it. It was sweet, like a sugar cube!

"Good, right?"

"Yea," she nodded.

She looked at Roxas. He was shoving the cookies in his mouth.

"Roxas…"

"Hm?"

"Are you really okay with me changing your memories?"

Roxas shrugged. "I can't remember what you changed."

Naminé frowned. "Right."

It wasn't like she'd changed anything important. And if it didn't bother Roxas then maybe it was okay...

Naminé was alone--- well she had her doll, so maybe she wasn't alone. The door opened. Roxas was back already? He'd been spending a lot of time looking for that brown-haired girl. He said he couldn't smell her anymore.

"Where's Roxas?"

It was DiZ. He wasn't supposed to be here, not now!

"I--- I don't," Naminé held her doll to her chest.

"Where did you get that?" DiZ pointed at the doll.

"I---"

"Have you left the room?"

"No, I---"

"Nami!" Roxas threw the door open, "we're trapped!"

"What?"

DiZ looked at him. "Roxas, where---"

Roxas growled, baring his fangs. "Get away from her!"

Naminé gasped. "Roxas!"

"He's bad, Nami!" Roxas bawled up his fists, "he stole us! And he threw her out!"

"I don't understand."

"There's other people here! He stole them all! They told me that…"

He glared even with tears streaming down his face.

"Roxas," DiZ took a step forward, "this is a misunderstanding."

"You're lying." Naminé could barely breathe as she glanced into his memories. Days ago he'd found a brown-haired girl somewhere downstairs and had tossed her out a window. And there were people trapped here. "You're a liar."

Once she was digging, she couldn't stop. Moments from Diz's life flashed through her head. Her body was on fire.

"Naminé," Diz walked over to her. "What are you doing?"

"We're leaving!" Roxas ran over to Naminé's bed.

DiZ frowned. "Where would you two even go? There's nowhere out there for you."

"We're leaving." Roxas put out his hand. Naminé took it and climbed out of bed.

"You two aren't going anywhere!"

Naminé leaned on Roxas. Her legs already felt like they were going to give out. She looked at Diz.

"We are leaving," Naminé closed her eyes, "You just said we could."

"I did not---" He grabbed his head, "I---"

DiZ didn't say anything else as they left. Roxas walked out first. Naminé stopped at the threshold. She held her doll tightly. Naminé stepped out of the room. She was outside of the room-- there was a world outside of the room!

They were in a long hallway. Roxas led her to the stairs. There were several flights of stairs. A couple of stories down, the floors contained nothing, but cells full of people. Roxas let go of Naminé's hand.

"Wait here."

"Okay." Her legs were sore anyway.

"How do I get you out?"

There was no easy way. Roxas decided to try force. He tugged at the bars. The metal creaked.

"What do you think you're doing?" A tall person with a covered face came down the hall.

Roxas pulled harder. The metal bent towards him. The person arrived at Roxas. They swiped at him, but with one more try, the bars of the cell came loose. The cell's inhabitants flooded out and surrounded the person.

One of them looked at Roxas. "Go, child, we'll free as many people as we can."

So, Roxas returned to Naminé. She'd never seen him look so tired. More people with covered faces began to appear, shooting arrows as they entered. Roxas grabbed Naminé's hand and pulled her to the next set of stairs. 

They ran and ran until Naminé's legs gave out. She fell.

"Nami!"

"I'm okay." She could barely breathe. Her body was on fire. Only the pain coursing through her legs let her know they were still attached.

Roxas crouched down in front of her. "It's okay, climb on."

She hesitated but did as he said.

Eventually, they made it to the front door. Roxas pushed it open. He walked outside.

A gust of cold wind hit them. The sun's light forced her eyes shut for a moment, but then she saw everything. The sky was blue. The ground was white, covered in snow. They were up very high on a mountain. 

"Where do we go?" Naminé looked around. 

"Anywhere," Roxas took a breath before starting downhill.

Roxas carried her through the cold. The only warmth they had was each other. Roxas looked like he would pass out any moment. Naminé tried to convince him to stop, but he refused to. The only thing that could stop him was his entire body giving out, which it did near the bottom of the mountain.

There wasn't much Naminé could do. She held him close. She had to at least keep him warm.

It was so cold.

Her eyelids grew heavy.

She held him closer, but they were both shivering. 

Was this the end?

"Terra! They're over here!"

She could barely keep her eyes open as the blue-haired woman scooped them up.

"It's going to be okay now."

_ "I'm here," _ Master Aqua ran in. "Oh, Naminé!" She picked her up. "Let's cool you down!"

Naminé had once asked Master Aqua how she'd found them. Master Aqua told her that she'd heard a voice telling her to save them. She said it sounded a lot like Xion.

After getting Naminé changed and cooled down. Master Aqua sat with her. She read to her and fed her soup.

This room was much smaller than the one at the castle. Despite that, she never felt caged. In fact, she only felt loved.


End file.
